The Culinary Institute of America

Chef Heena Patel Makes Ragda at Besharam Restaurant in San Francisco

Heena Patel is the Chef and co-owner of Besharam in San Francisco. Chef Patel talks about the inspiration she draws from her upbringing in Mumbai, and cooking vegetarian cuisine. She also talks about when to add spices so you don’t burn them, and how her version of culinary school was shadowing her mother, grandmother, aunts, and sisters in the kitchen. Her restaurant, Besharam, translates to “shameless” or “fearless.” This idea guides her everyday. The menu is filled with dishes that she loves and that represent her personal approach to cooking.
Chef Patel demonstrates how to make ragda, which is a white pea curry used in many Indian street foods. She tops the ragda with potato patties, mint and cilantro chutney, tart and spicy date and tamarind chutney, and crispy sev.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!

Chef Heena Talks Plant-Forward Indian Cooking at Besharam Restaurant in San Francisco

Heena Patel is the Chef and co-owner of Besharam in San Francisco. Chef Patel talks about the inspiration she draws from her upbringing in Mumbai, and cooking vegetarian cuisine. She also talks about when to add spices so you don’t burn them, and how her version of culinary school was shadowing her mother, grandmother, aunts, and sisters in the kitchen. Her restaurant, Besharam, translates to “shameless” or “fearless.” This idea guides her everyday. The menu is filled with dishes that she loves and that represent her personal approach to cooking.
Besharam is a regional Gujarati restaurant in San Francisco’s Dogpatch district. Roughly translated to mean “shameless,” Besharam features Heena’s bold interpretation of the flavors and dishes that were prevalent throughout her childhood in India, playfully reimagined within a California context.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!

Katina Connaughton Talks Sustainable Agriculture at SingleThread Farm

Katina Connaughton is the head farmer and co-owner of SingleThread Farm-Restaurant-Inn, in Healdsburg, CA. She talks about her sustainable farming practices, biodiversity, and connecting the community to sustainable food systems.
Katina Connaughton met Kyle Connaughton, her now husband and the co-owner of SingleThread, when they were teenagers. Katina leads farming for SingleThread Farm's twenty-four-acre property, greenhouses, heirloom orchards, bee hives, and livestock as well as the foraging program and floral department. Katina began her first foray into farming while living in a rural agricultural community in Hokkaido, Japan. She continued culinary gardening on a Victorian estate property in England before moving to Sonoma to complete her coursework in Sustainable Agriculture and Horticulture. Katina was greenhouse manager for the Ag Program and Santa Rosa Junior College and has farmed at Davis Family Winery and The Barlow.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!

Chef Kyle Connaughton Makes Onigiri at SingleThread Restaurant

Renowned Chef Connaughton prepares onigiri, a Japanese snack of white rice formed into triangles and wrapped in nori. He prepares the rice in a Japanese clay pot known as a donabe, adding roasted and chopped negi onions, and red and yellow pepper varieties from their farm. He seasons this with a Japanese seven-spice powder, including toasted sesame seeds and togarashi chili powder. To finish, he adds a powdered nori that’s been dried for an umami seaweed flavor. The onigiri are given to guests at the inn when they arrive as a gesture of hospitality.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!

Chef Kyle Connaughton Talks about the Origins of Three-Michelin Star SingleThread

Acclaimed Chef Kyle Connaughton talks about the origins of SingleThread Farm-Restaurant-Inn, how he started his carrer as a chef, and some of his culinary influences. He also discusses the importance of sustainability and plant-forward cuisine.
Kyle Connaughton is a chef, culinary educator, and cookbook author. He and Katina Connaughton, his wife, opened SingleThread Farm-Restaurant-Inn, in Healdsburg, CA, in December 2016. The restaurant received a perfect four stars from The San Francisco Chronicle in March 2017 and a James Beard Foundation Restaurant Design Award in May 2017. It was awarded two stars in the 2018 Michelin Red Guide, one of only a few restaurants to earn the rating in its first year. The restaurant then received three stars just a year later in the 2019 Michelin Red Guide. SingleThread is also a member of Relais & Chateaux, an international organization of the world’s top restaurants and hotels.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!

Vegan Ceviche and Butternut Squash Tacos at Malibu Farm Restaurant

Chef Yanelquis Penton is the Head Chef of Malibu Farm, a plant-forward restaurant located on the scenic Malibu Pier off the Pacific Coast Highway in California. She and Chef de Cuisine Norberto Gomez show us their butternut squash tacos with spaghetti squash and habañero salsa, and discuss how these vegetarian tacos placed 2nd in a Food and Wine competition in Texas, beating out their “meatier” competition. They also show us a menu favorite —  the vegan coconut ceviche with vegan caviar.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes at https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/inside-the-plantforward-kitchen

Hearts of Palm Linguini & Huarache Flatbread at Malibu Farm Restaurant

Chef Yanelquis Penton is the Head Chef of Malibu Farm, a plant-forward restaurant located on the scenic Malibu Pier off the Pacific Coast Highway in California. In this video, she and Sous Chef John Robin Acuña show us two of their favorite menu items — hearts of palm linguini with plant-based meatballs and their grilled homemade huarache flatbread with ​​avocado, jalapeño ricotta, and spicy hot honey gastrique.
 
Helene Henderson started Malibu Farm by teaching cooking classes, and serving farm dinners out of her home and backyard. Although her business has grown, Malibu Farm is still a locally-owned small business. They strive to provide fresh, farm-to-table food from Southern California. Their food is simply prepared, and uses lots of vegetables and whole grains. They believe there is no such thing as too much lemon. The restaurant offers as much local and small farm produce as they can. Malibu Farm provides the restaurant with eggs, persimmons, figs, lemons, pomegranates, apricots, Asian pears, carrots, beets, asparagus, fresh herbs and more.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes at https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/inside-the-plantforward-kitchen

Bartender Ignacio Murillo makes a Golden Beet Cocktail, The Sunshine at A.O.C. Restaurant

Ignacio Murillo is the talented bartender at A.O.C. Wine Bar in West Hollywood. He crafts a unique and stunning cocktail menu based entirely on seasonal availability. Here, he shows us one of his favorite fall cocktails he calls, “The Sunshine.” The secret ingredient? A homemade beet liqueur made with golden roasted beets, turmeric, orange juice, brandy, vodka, water and sugar. To that he adds tequila blanco, lime juice, and homemade chile de árbol bitters.
Murillo’s cocktails are delicious, inspired concoctions that are a perfect pairing with Chef/Owner Suzanne Goin’s seasonal market menu offerings at the legendary A.O.C. Wine Bar and Restaurant.
Watch the full documentary and find plant-forward recipes here!